Attackers kill 53 in organized raid in Iraq

Mar. 30, 2011 12:00 AMWashington Post

TIKRIT, Iraq - Uniformed attackers driving military trucks and armed with a car bomb, guns, grenades and suicide belts blasted their way Tuesday into a provincial government headquarters in this northern city, killing at least 53 people in a highly organized raid, according to witnesses and local officials.

Over several hours, the attackers went room to room, tossing grenades down hallways and through doorways and killing local politicians and government workers with shots to the head, according to Iraqi security forces and two witnesses who escaped by jumping out of a second-floor window. More than 90 people were wounded, officials said.

After an hours-long firefight, Iraqi security forces - who called in U.S. helicopters and soldiers for support - entered the building, but there were no survivors inside.

Sabah al-Bazee, 30, a freelance Iraqi journalist who worked for Reuters news service and other media, was among those killed, Reuters reported.

Iraqi officials immediately blamed the attack on al-Qaida-linked insurgents bent on destabilizing Iraq's fragile government. Tikrit, a predominantly Sunni area and the birthplace of Saddam Hussein, was long a stronghold of groups with ties to al-Qaida.

According to a doctor at Tikrit's Salahuddin Hospital, 53 people were killed Tuesday, while an official at a morgue put the death toll at 75.

Although small explosions and, increasingly, assassinations occur almost daily across Iraq, security has improved dramatically. When attacks come, however, they are often on a large scale. In January, a suicide bomber killed at least 50 people at a police recruiting center in Tikrit.